Sticky Note App For Desktop, Float Or Sync, Not Both

The sticky note app for desktop you're about to download is probably already installed, and whichever one it is, it does half the job. Microsoft's Sticky Notes syncs to your Microsoft account and, in Microsoft's own words, "cannot currently" stay on top of other windows. Apple's Stickies stays on top with one menu command and doesn't sync anywhere. Both are free. Neither does both.

So the honest answer is a decision, not a download. On Windows, open Start, type Sticky Notes, sign in, and accept that the note lives in a window like any other. On a Mac, open Stickies, choose Window then Float on Top, and accept that the note stays on that Mac. If you need a third option on Windows, Simple Sticky Notes is free for personal and commercial use and keeps its database in your Documents folder, which matters for backups.

Every claim below is from Microsoft's support pages, Apple's Stickies User Guide, and the Simple Sticky Notes site, loaded on 15 September 2026. The download pages that rank for this search mention none of it.

Two Built-Ins, Opposite Fences

Read the second row and the third row together. That's the whole article, and the rest is the detail behind each cell.

Microsoft Says It Twice

The sentence is on the Get started page and again on the Create a sticky note page, word for word. "You cannot currently have Sticky Notes stay on top of other applications." The follow-up is a consolation. "But you can pin Sticky Notes to the Windows taskbar to see your list of notes instantly or to create a new note quickly."

I'd read "currently" as a promise nobody has dated. The app itself replaced the older desktop version some time ago, in Microsoft's own account. "The previous version of Sticky Notes has been replaced with a Microsoft Store app of the same name. We brought over all the best features from the previous app, including migrating your pre-existing notes."

What you get instead is a competent notes app wearing a sticky note's colours. Ctrl+N makes a note. Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough and bullets are the formatting, and that's the full list, since you can't change the font or the size. Type a date, a phone number or an address and a feature called Insights offers to add a reminder to your Outlook calendar, show a map, or open the link. It also takes ink from a pen or a finger.

None of that is bad. It's just not a sticky note in the sense that made the paper version work, which is that the paper version is physically in front of the thing you're trying to look at. On Windows, the built-in is a list of coloured cards you go and find.

The Same Notes Live In Three Places

This is where Windows users get confused, and Microsoft's pages explain it if you read four of them in a row.

Sign in to Sticky Notes with a Microsoft account and the notes leave the machine. They show up in the Notes folder of Outlook on the web. They show up inside OneNote on an iPhone, an iPad and an Android phone, as a Sticky Notes button rather than a separate app. They show up at onenote.com/stickynotes in a browser. And Microsoft's page on the OneNote feed says the feed inside OneNote on Windows "will be replaced with the new Sticky Notes experience," which is why you may have seen sticky notes appear inside OneNote on your PC as well.

The condition is one sentence. "To see your sticky notes on your favorite devices on the web, you'll need all your devices signed in to the same Microsoft account."

That's also the answer to the "where did my notes go" question, which has its own support page. The three reasons Microsoft gives are that you're signed out, you're on a new computer that isn't signed in, or you signed in with a different account than the one you synced with. The notes aren't gone. They're on the account you used last time. Reinstalling from the Store brings them back if you sign in with that account.

There's no Mac app in any of this. Microsoft's list of places to see your sticky notes is Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android, the Microsoft Launcher feed, Outlook and the web, and a Mac user gets the web view. That's fine for reading. It's not a desktop sticky note.

Stickies Floats And Stays Put

Apple's guide describes Stickies as a way to "keep notes, lists, and even pictures in sticky notes on your desktop," and the one command that makes it a sticky note rather than a small window is Window then Float on Top. Window then Translucent lets you see the thing underneath. The full Stickies menu walkthrough has every command with Apple's wording, so I won't repeat the table.

The fence is the opposite one. The Stickies guide doesn't mention iCloud or sync at all. What it offers is an exit. You can "export a note from Stickies as a text file," or export all of them into the Notes app, "where you can write and organize notes in a single window and see your notes on all your Apple devices." Read that carefully. Sync is a property of Notes, and Stickies gets there by leaving.

That's a reasonable design. A note that floats over your work is by definition tied to the screen it floats over. But it means the Mac built-in is a single-machine tool, and if you want the same reminder on your phone, the notebook app Apple ships is the container, and it doesn't float.

Simple Sticky Notes, The Free Third Option

Simple Sticky Notes is the long-running Windows alternative and the third and seventh results for this search, once as a Softonic mirror and once as the vendor's own download page. Use the vendor's page. The mirror is ad-supported, "view an ad to download for free," and there's no reason to watch an ad for a 2.77 MB installer the developer gives away.

The vendor's page lists version 6.9 from 22 February 2026, support for Windows 11 down to Windows 7, and the licence line that makes it unusual, "completely free for personal and commercial use." Features on the download page are reminders and alarms, checklists, a Note Explorer for organising and searching, print, export to text and RTF, themes, colours and opacity settings, and a dark mode. The 6.9 notes mention an updated SQLite engine, which tells you what the notes are stored in.

Two things I couldn't confirm from its pages. Whether a note can be pinned above other windows, which is the feature Microsoft's app lacks, and whether there's any sync. Opacity is listed and stay-on-top isn't, so I'd install it and check the note's right-click menu before assuming. If it does float, it's the only free floating sticky note on Windows in this comparison. If it doesn't, it's a lighter Sticky Notes with alarms and no account.

Where The Notes Are, And What Restore Does

I judge desktop tools on whether I can find the file, and this is where the three split.

Simple Sticky Notes tells you. The help page says the "Notes.db file is stored in C:\Users{user}\Documents\Simple Sticky Notes," and the Settings dialog has a Database section for backup and restore. Documents is a folder most backup tools already cover, so a nightly backup of your user folder includes your notes without any extra step. The warning is the one to remember. "When you restore a backup, all notes currently in Simple Sticky Notes (including trashed notes) will be permanently deleted." Restore replaces. Make a fresh backup before restoring an old one, every time.

Microsoft doesn't publish a path. None of the five support pages I read names the file, and the troubleshooting page's answer to "I deleted a note, how do I get it back" is that you can't, and that you can turn on a deletion confirmation prompt in Settings. Community guides name a database file under the app's package folder, and I'm not going to repeat a path I couldn't confirm from Microsoft. The practical backup for Microsoft Sticky Notes is the account. Sign in, and the copy on Microsoft's servers is your backup, readable from Outlook on the web if the PC dies.

Stickies keeps everything in one database file in your user Library, and the Mac walkthrough covers the exact location and the single-file backup it allows. The export is the cleaner route. File then Export Text for one note, or File then Export All to Notes for the lot.

The Working Setup Per OS

The last row is the one I'd push back on if someone told me they needed it. A note that has to be on two operating systems is usually a task, and the Google notes app piece covers Keep, which is the free cross-platform container with its own nine limits. A floating note is for the next hour. If it needs to survive a device change it's outgrown the format.

Questions People Ask

How do I get Sticky Notes on my desktop? On Windows, click Start and type Sticky Notes, and if it isn't there, install Microsoft Sticky Notes from the Microsoft Store. On a Mac, open Stickies from the Applications folder. Neither needs a download from anywhere else, and the sites offering one are mirrors.

Do I need the Microsoft Sticky Notes app on my computer? Only if you want the notes on the Windows desktop. If you're signed in, the same notes are in Outlook on the web and in OneNote on your phone, so uninstalling the app doesn't lose them, and reinstalling brings them back when you sign in with the same account.

Does Windows 11 still have Sticky Notes? Yes. Microsoft's page gives the same route for Windows 10 and 11, Start then type Sticky Notes, and the Store listing is the fallback if a machine shipped without it.

Is there a Microsoft Sticky Notes app? Yes, free, from the Microsoft Store, and since version 3.0 it signs in to sync. The related search for a "sticky notes widget" on Windows 11 is one I can't confirm from Microsoft's pages, which describe pinning the app to the taskbar rather than a widget.

Is there a free sticky note app for desktop? Three in this article, and all three are free. The two built-ins from Microsoft and Apple, and Simple Sticky Notes, whose developer says free for commercial use as well. The wider field, including the App Store apps and the paper kind, is in the sticky notepad comparison.

Which is better, Microsoft OneNote or Sticky Notes? They're the same account and different containers. A sticky note is a card with a colour and no title, and on a phone it lives inside OneNote anyway. OneNote is for notes with structure, pages and sections. If the note has a heading, it's a OneNote page. If it's a phone number you need before lunch, it's a sticky note, and it'll be in OneNote on your phone by the time you get there.

What I'd Do

Decide which half you need before you install anything. Floating is for a note you'll act on today and delete. Sync is for a note that has to outlive the machine.

On Windows, that's Microsoft's app signed in for the second kind and Simple Sticky Notes for the first, with a look at its menu to see whether it floats, because the vendor doesn't say. On a Mac, it's Stickies with Float on Top and an Export All to Notes when something turns out to matter.

And whichever you pick, find the file or the account before you write anything down. Microsoft's answer to a deleted note is that it's gone, and Simple Sticky Notes' restore wipes the current set, and both of those are fine to live with as long as you knew them first.